Amiga

I was able to get my Christmas shopping done. I just got small presents for Mom, my grandparents, Greg, Tina, and my friends in the Valley. I couldn’t afford big presents, and I certainly couldn’t afford the postage to mail them. After an early dinner, we went to the Marin Headlands. The sun was setting on the Bay, casting its glow on the rippling waves and the Golden Gate Bridge with its orange Art Deco towers. It had gotten chilly. Even my CSUN sweatshirt wasn’t warm enough to hold back the steady breeze off the water. But Greg held me close as we walked along the trail.

“So, what are we going to do when you leave the Army?”

“Depends. How committed are you to this Amiga program you’ve been working on?”

“Very. We have to get it ready for CES next month.”

“Then what?”

“If it goes as well as I think, we’ll make it a sellable product. Then, we have maintenance and upgrades…”

“But what if it doesn’t go well?”

“What are you getting at?”

“Do you really want to stay cooped up in that house on Irwin Street?”

“Of course not. When you’re out, we can get our own place around here…”

“I’m thinking bigger than that.”

“Like what?”

“Like, let’s leave California!”

“Leave California? This is the state everybody wants to move to.”

“But there’s a whole big world outside of here! The Army really opened my eyes. So many other places. Some many different cultures. There are parts of the US that are much different than California. Think of all the experiences we’re missing out on by staying here! We can explore the world!”

“And how are we going to pay for it?”

“We can get jobs anywhere. There are computer programming jobs all over the world. I learned skills in the Army I can apply in any job.” He clasped my hands and stared into my eyes. “Our lives can be such an adventure, Laura!”

“Or they will be in two months, se…”

His warm, soft lips silenced me.